With the Serbs in Macedonia

GOING OVERSEAS 19
turned into one of H.M. transports. She went
to the bottom later. Her well-fitted cabins,
luxurious saloons and swimming-bath that had
echoed in their day to the laughter of pretty
women, and the good-humoured, bad language
of rough soldiers, finally fell victim to Fritz ;
and when we heard that she had gone down we
thought of our enjoyable journey and felt that
we had lost a friend.
The ship was packed with troops, and the
first two days were rather nasty. It was the
writer's bad luck to be called upon for orderly
officer, and the first inspection is better omitted
than described. Apparently the ship's cooks
were rather stale humorists. The food was
excellent, but for the men's first breakfast they
provided curry — greenery-yellowy curry with
chunks of fat.
Lifebelts were worn all the time, and boat
stations allotted to all the men. The officers had
no boat stations, however. Any old odd raft
was supposed to be good enough for them.
An escort travelled with us, and of course we
had a gun of our own, and a military armed
guard always on duty. At night all lights were
extinguished, and it was a serious crime to
smoke on deck.
One lovely night when, because of the heat,
most of the men were sleeping on deck and it